MLB's slot recommendations are lower than they were in 2006, and the below chart shows how out of touch the current guidelines are with reality. We've lined up the 50 highest bonuses in the draft against the top 50 slots (to clarify, those are the first 50 slots in the draft, not the corresponding slots for each player). The bonuses total $120.5 million, 72 percent above the slot total of $70 million. Teams paid out 24 bonuses of $2 million or more, compared to just eight slots worth that much.

Rk

Player, Pos, Team (Round/Overall)

Bonus

Slot

1

Gerrit Cole, rhp, Pit (1st round/No. 1)

$8,000,000

$4,000,000

2

Bubba Starling, of, KC (1st round/No. 5)

$7,500,000

$3,250,000

3

Danny Hultzen, lhp, Sea (1st round/No. 2)

$6,350,000

$3,000,000

4

Anthony Rendon, 3b, Was (1st round/No. 6)

$6,000,000

$2,750,000

5

Archie Bradley, rhp, Ari (1st round/No. 7)

$5,000,000

$2,520,000

6

Josh Bell, of, Pit (2nd round/No. 61)

$5,000,000

$2,340,000

7

Dylan Bundy, rhp, Bal (1st round/No. 4)

$4,000,000

$2,178,000

8

Trevor Bauer, rhp, Ari (1st round/No. 3)

$3,400,000

$2,043,000

9

Brian Goodwin, of, Was (supp. 1st round/No. 34)

$3,000,000

$1,863,000

10

Austin Hedges, c, SD (2nd round/No. 82)

$3,000,000

$1,962,000

11

Francisco Lindor, ss, Cle (1st round/No. 8 )

$2,900,000

$1,791,000

12

Joe Ross, rhp, SD (1st round/No. 25)

$2,750,000

$1,719,000

13

Matt Purke, lhp, Was (3rd round/No. 96)

$2,750,000

$1,656,000

14

Javier Baez, ss, ChC (1st round/No. 9)

$2,625,000

$1,602,000

15

George Springer, of, Hou (1st round/No. 11)

$2,525,000

$1,557,000

16

Taylor Jungmann, rhp, Mil (1st round/No. 12)

$2,525,000

$1,512,000

17

Blake Swihart, c, Bos (1st round/No. 26)

$2,500,000

$1,467,000

18

Dillon Maples, rhp, ChC (14th round/No. 429)

$2,500,000

$1,422,000

19

Brandon Nimmo, of, NYM (1st round/No. 13)

$2,100,000

$1,386,000

20

Jose Fernandez, rhp, Fla (1st round/No. 14)

$2,000,000

$1,332,000

21

Jed Bradley, lhp, Mil (1st round/No. 15)

$2,000,000

$1,287,000

22

Alex Meyer, rhp, Was (1st round/No. 23)

$2,000,000

$1,242,000

23

Robert Stephenson, rhp, Cin (1st round, No 27)

$2,000,000

$1,359,000

24

Daniel Norris, lhp, Tor (2nd round/No. 74)

$2,000,000

$1,260,000

25

Cory Spangenberg, 2b, SD (1st round/No. 10)

$1,863,000

$1,215,000

26

Dillon Howard, rhp, Cle (2nd round/No. 67)

$1,850,000

$1,197,000

27

Kevin Comer, rhp, Tor (supp. 1st round/No. 57)

$1,650,000

$1,161,000

28

Taylor Guerrieri, rhp, TB (1st round/No. 24)

$1,600,000

$1,116,000

29

Dan Vogelbach, 1b, ChC (2nd round/No. 68)

$1,600,000

$1,134,000

30

Chris Reed, lhp, LAD (1st round/No. 16)

$1,589,000

$1,089,000

31

Henry Owens, lhp, Bos (supp. 1st round/No. 36)

$1,550,000

$972,000

32

Sonny Gray, rhp, Oak (1st round/No. 18)

$1,540,000

$954,000

33

Nick Delmonico, 3b, Bal (6th round/No. 185)

$1,525,000

$936,000

34

Matt Barnes, rhp, Bos (1st round/No. 19)

$1,500,000

$918,000

35

Tyler Goeddel, 3b, TB (supp. 1st round/No. 41)

$1,500,000

$889,200

36

Bryan Brickhouse, rhp, KC (3rd round/No. 95)

$1,500,000

$900,000

37

C.J. Cron, 1b, LAA (1st round/No. 17)

$1,467,000

$873,000

38

Tyler Anderson, lhp, Col (1st round/No. 20)

$1,400,000

$858,600

39

Kolten Wong, 2b, StL (1st round/No. 22)

$1,300,000

$844,200

40

Charlie Tilson, of, StL (2nd round/No. 79)

$1,275,000

$815,400

41

Shawon Dunston Jr., of, ChC (11th round/No. 339)

$1,275,000

$829,800

42

Clay Holmes, rhp, Pit (9th round/No. 272)

$1,200,000

$802,800

43

Levi Michael, ss, Min (1st round/No. 30)

$1,175,000

$789,300

44

Mikie Mahtook, of, TB (1st round/No. 31)

$1,150,000

$776,700

45

Sean Gilmartin, lhp, Atl (1st round/No. 28)

$1,134,000

$764,100

46

Joe Panik, ss, SF (1st round/No. 29)

$1,116,000

$751,500

47

Jackie Bradley, of, Bos (supp. 1st round/No. 40)

$1,100,000

$739,800

48

Andrew Susac, c, SF (2nd round/No. 86)

$1,100,000

$717,300

49

Greg Bird, c, NYY (5th round/No.179)

$1,100,000

$728,100

50

Travis Harrison, 3b, Min (supp. 1st round/No. 50)

$1,050,000

$705,600

Total

$120,534,000

$69,975,400

SPENDING VS. SLOTS

How much money each team spent in the first 10 rounds of the 2011 draft, and how that compares to its estimated slot allowance in those rounds from the commissioner's office: